A New Way to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

MRSA, E. coli, salmonella – just the mention of these bacterial infections can send you running for the hand sanitizer – especially in light of the recent E. coli outbreak in Europe, which has killed at least 40 people and sickened nearly 3,500 others.

And what’s even scarier about this deadly strain of E. coli is that it’s resistant to antibiotics.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is nothing new. Just think about MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is an infection that has been terrorizing hospitals for years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website that reducing this type of infection in “both health care and community settings continues to be a high priority,” and now it looks like the agency as well as other health organizations could be getting some help from researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.